Thanks again for all your prayers for me last weekend as I was at a PCA Committee on Discipleship Ministries conference in Atlanta. Wow! My heart is full after hearing from some of our church ministry leaders on children’s programming. I attended 6 sessions on various aspects of ministry, but my favorite was likely “Defining a Biblical Theology of Children’s Ministry.” Are you surprised? 🙂
First, it was wonderful to meet our PCA Children’s Ministry team and hear from many of the churches in the southeast on what they are doing and how they are shepherding the next generation. I am even getting connected with the other children’s leaders in our presbytery.
Second, I am overjoyed that our body is doing exactly what we are called to do, biblically, from Psalm 78: “We will not hide them (the teachings) from their descendants; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power, and the wonders he has done.” At Christ Presbyterian, we do this in several ways:
Worship. We bring in our young children to worship with us. Starting at age 4, our children move from nursery classes to worship with us. By sitting in the pews next to you, they are actively participating in the service, seeing the sacraments being given, watching with their eyes how we do things, learning to pray – all the while we ask the Lord that their ears and eyes and hearts would be opened to the truth of the gospel. You may see a lot of wiggling (or disciplining!), but bear with us! The Lord is working!Instruction. We have all ages (2 yrs and up) in classes which teach them the Word of the Lord. This is NOT just childcare! It truly is discipleship! Even our two yr olds are learning how God cared for the Israelites throughout the Old Testament and how He will care for them, too. Thank you to all our teachers for nursery through high school as they are playing a pivotal role in training up our young minds! Our curriculum helps us to equip the children with the truths of God, teaching them from infancy just as 2 Timothy 3:14-17 instructs us to do.Fellowship. We also aim to have fellowship at regular intervals where children can grow in relationship with other covenant parents and children. We need each other, don’t you think? This past week, many volunteers and families participated in the Parents’ Night Out. We had over 25 children in our care, and they went through “superhero training” throughout the night before finally hearing the gospel and who our “true” superhero is, Jesus Christ! Meg and her team worked so hard, and the night was not only fun, but gospel-centered!Outreach. This upcoming year, I am praying about some other ways to disciple our young ones – even praying about hosting a backyard bible club this summer for our children and neighbors! Will you pray about that now with me?
See? The scriptures tell us that “Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (Eph. 4:11-13). Our church body is doing this very thing! We are raising future church members who we will need to serve and lead us. And, above all, it was impressed upon my heart how key it is to minister to our little ones; the things we do now impact them for eternity!
It is our goal to go with you, the parents, in teaching and admonishing our little ones. I love this quote from one of the area leaders, “Children’s ministry is the natural outgrowth of the commitment we made at their baptism.” When our congregation said, “yes” to going alongside the parents in raising their babies, we should definitely mean YES! Don’t forget that as you see needs to rock babies in the nursery, sub for Sunday school, volunteer at events, but most of all, PRAY for these young families that the Lord would equip the parents to carry the gospel first to their children! The entire church body has a responsibility, and I am thankful that you are prayerfully stepping up to participate in this journey with the parents!
As I process all that I learned, and determine how the Lord would have me impart these things to our local ministry, please continue to pray for me! I want to serve our body as unto the Lord and help you in any way I can! Let us raise these children to be “doers” of the Word as James says to us; we must start now!
In Him,
Ashley
**As always, if you find it on your heart to serve in the children’s ministry, email me! There is always a need for help, even small things!